Marathon Mum. Marathon Man. Get the joke? Both feature obsessiveness, shady characters from Europe, lots of running, and most notably, torture. This online journal began as I trained for the 2005 London Marathon. I successfully finished the race, but MarathonMum lives on. After all, life as a mother isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Our Man in Jordan

Back in the old days, meaning those dark times before technology made our world so much smaller, getting posted abroad really meant something. Now, with the advent of the Internet, inexpensive air transportation and satellite technology, it's really no big deal to go anywhere. Foreign journalists are a dime a dozen. To become "Our man in London" or "Our woman in Tokyo" (how news organizations used to refer to their correspondents abroad) doesn't really require anything more than a valid passport and a desire to travel.

However, there are still times when journalists get sent to places so unusual or dangerous that it gives people pause. As regular readers of this journal know, Tim got to see one part of the Axis of Evil when he had to go to Iran in March. His latest destination was less dangerous, but nearly as exotic: Jordan, for the World Economic Forum.

Tim, who is an editor at Bloomberg, went to coordinate their coverage but to also chair a panel on Saturday.

In this picture below, taken while he did some on-air commentary for Bloomberg, you can see the Dead Sea behind him. He went swimming in it and he said it was the most bizarre sensation he's ever had. The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest water bodies in the world, so when you swim in it, it is virtually impossible to not float in it. Tim said it was nearly impossible to put his legs down to feel the bottom of the lake.

So Our Man in Jordan is now on his way back to London. However, the next scheduled business trip is just as interesting. He's meant to go to Nigeria.

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About Me

Life as a mother is a marathon. You need to have patience, endurance, tenacity and a sense of humor. When you decide to run a marathon as a mother, particularly when your 1-year-old son is along for the ride, you need all of the above in spades. This blog began as a way to update my family on the progress of my marathon training, but now the blog has evolved to talk about a million other things, too. I am now working on my first novel, so if you are an agent looking for new clients, be sure to get in touch.